Hi all! I’m reading the Genealogy of Morals of Friedrich Nietzsche. I think that he makes good points but, at the same time, he appears to not be able to conceive the possibility of genuine humility, ‘love of enemies’ etc that is not marred by a hatred of life and/or a desire for revenge.
Gillian Russell’s Barriers to Entailment.
You can’t get an ought from an is; you can’t get a universal from particulars; you can’t get a fact about the future from facts only about the past; you can’t get a conclusion about how things must be from presumptions about how things are; and you can’t get an indexical claim from claims that are not indexical.
These are common philosophical claims, each of which bars us from making some sort of deduction from certain sorts of premises. The variety of these barriers to entailment has perhaps hidden a common feature of all.
Russell’s book gives a general, formal treatment of these barriers, in terms of model theory. Far too roughly, the argument is that the entailments each involve holding some statements true while modifying the model; the consequence being that some conclusions in the modified model fail to be true, breaching entailment.
This is a novel use of model theory that offers one explanation for diverse philosophical problems. Worth a look. Presumes a fair grasp of first-order logic.
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Hello, I’m new to the forum so take it easy on me.
I’m currently reading St Augustine’s Confessions.
I am not a religious person but am interested in religion, history and of course the varying philosophies that exists in both spiritual and secular matters.
I find it an interesting read so far. It certainly has given me new ways to look at The Bible, but I think there are also nuggets of wisdom throughout.
Notes throughout make plain Augustine’s debt to Platonic thinkers and often mentioned in the notes is Plotinus, although I must admit I hadn’t heard of him until beginning to read Confessions.
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I am currently reading several texts.
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Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle.
This one is quite fascinating. It is the primitive sort of logic on ethics. I have been reading it for years, slowly piecing together what it really means. His logic is fascinating and his arguments are quite precise. I think it inspires me to be a better person and to structure my life behind it. That being said there are limitations to Aristotle, with my criticism that he is very idealistic in his interpretations. Nonetheless understanding Aristotle is foundational to understanding largely the Western Civilization project of morality, which I am keen to do. -
Philosophical Dictionary by Voltaire.
This one is foundational for me as well. The arguments for naturalism are quite nice as well as roles of the state. He also argues for virtue as well, independent of any Christian theology, which was considered scandalous at the time. That is what I have gotten out of it, anyways. He was quite a scholar as well, tracing Phoenician and Babylonian etc. influences in Judaism and hence Christianity, as well as evincing arguments about the soul and various other metaphysical arguments. He is the prime influence for atheism at the time, hence worth looking into. -
De finibus bonorum et malorum by Cicero.
Translated “On Moral Ends” according to my translation, it is the account of the Roman idea of morality, drawing accounts of Epicureanism, Stoicism, Skepticism, and a curious synthetic blend of Aristotelianism from Antiochus. It is very easy to read, as Cicero is a rhetorician with an interest in philosophy. It is not necessary the truest account of what things are at the time, as Cicero has his biases, but it is quite fascinating. -
Meditations on the First Philosophy by Descartes.
Famous for the Cognito. I have gotten a lot out of this, such as the idea of “clear and distinct” ideas, from which we can judge our reality as well as various ideas on God and the soul. Hence why it is the “first philosophy” as it focuses on metaphysics. He argues that we know things from our faculty and not the senses, echoing arguments of the Pyrrhonians but in light of the cognito. -
Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977 by Michel Foucoult.
Honestly somewhat of a dense read, very much indicative of the French thinking of the latter half of the 20th century. He goes into details on various things, and discusses them or gives lectures about the current state of affairs and his work. I cannot say much on it as I have just begun reading it. -
The Critique of Pure Reason by Kant.
A notorious slog to read. Lots of abstract, abstruse concepts along with a wholly different way of viewing the world. A must read to understand the subjectivity that is inherent to our worldview.
I am also reading various books in lesser amounts about maths and programming, as I have to be employed hahah. But that is not the aim of this forum, thus I refrain.
The Sickness by Alberto Barrera Tyszka.
This novel, set in modern Venezuela but prior to Maduro’s time, is exceptionally well-written. It was published in 2006 and received the Herralde Award in Spain. Two key aspects that have captivated me about this novel:
- One of the protagonists has (surprisingly) the same name as mine – Javier Miranda.
- The way the author faces terminal sicknesses such as cancer is spectacular; I don’t recall something similar in other Spanish-speaking authors.
Jung vs. Borg by Glen Slater.
This is like the 4th Jung book I’m reading recently, but not sure why.
Here’s what it says about it: “Slater argues the industrial disruption of the outer world is being followed by a post-industrial disruption of the inner world, resulting in a different order of existential crisis, making the collapse of global ecosystems look like a warm-up act. The main event, beginning with the psycho-social fragmentation of the digital age, appears to be the collapse of our ecology of mind. As he explores critical precursors of this phenomenon and shows how this crisis will accelerate through the attempt to merge human and machine, Slater demonstrates how the psychology of the unconscious, born in the shadow of the Industrial Revolution, can be deployed as a counter-measure.”
That last sentence reminds me of something @Baden presented once, so shout out to him.
I’m hoping to snap out of my Jungian phase soon. I bought a book by Ernst Cassirer, but it sits unmolested.
Love that title. Will check it out.
The Vocation of Man
by Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Re-reading my favourite book of ‘inspirational’ philosophy.
Esther’s Inheritance by Sándor Márai.
Short novel (around 150 pages) but intense and very good. This is another melancholic drama typical of the old Austro-Hungarian novelists.